Jack Black turns deadly serious - sort of

By Louis B. Parks

Updated 5:28 am, Wednesday, May 2, 2012

"I felt like I fit in pretty good," Jack Black says of pulling off his character, Bernie Tiede.

Photo: Ashley Landis

"I felt like I fit in pretty good," Jack Black says of pulling off...

Actor Matthew McConaughey and director Richard Linklater outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, TX on Wed., March 14, 2012 during the promotion of their newest movie, Bernie, which stars McConaughey and Jack Black. The movie is based on a true story about lead character Bernie Tiede (Black), an assistant funeral director in a small Texas town. He is charged with the murder of the town's richest and meanest widow, Marjorie Nugent, played by Shirley MacLaine, and is investigated by the local District Attorney, played by McConaughey. Ashley Landis For the Chronicle

Photo: Ashley Landis

Actor Matthew McConaughey and director Richard Linklater outside...

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Shirley MacLaine and Jack Black co-star in the new Richard Linklater film "Bernie."

Photo: Millennium Entertainment

Shirley MacLaine and Jack Black co-star in the new Richard...

Jack Black stars as Bernie Tiede in "Bernie."

Photo: Van Redin

Jack Black stars as Bernie Tiede in "Bernie."

Actor Jack Black outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, TX on Wed., March 14, 2012 during the promotion of the movie, Bernie, which stars Black and Matthew McConaughey. The movie is based on a true story about lead character Bernie Tiede (Black), an assistant funeral director in a small Texas town. He is charged with the murder of the town's richest and meanest widow, Marjorie Nugent, played by Shirley MacLaine, and is investigated by the local District Attorney, played by McConaughey. The film is directed by Richard Linklater. Ashley Landis For the Chronicle

Photo: Ashley Landis

Actor Jack Black outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, TX on...

Hosts Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar at the 2002 MTV Movie Awards held at the Shrine Theatre in Los Angeles, Ca., June 1, 2002.

Photo: Kevin Winter, Getty Images

Hosts Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar at the 2002 MTV Movie...

Shirley MacLaine as "Marjorie Nugent" and Jack Black as "Bernie Tiede" in BERNIE

Photo: Millennium Entertainment

Shirley MacLaine as "Marjorie Nugent" and Jack Black as "Bernie...

Actor Jack Black, right, said he was persuaded to do "Bernie" after reading a "really dark" script from director Richard Linklater.

Photo: Slaven Vlasic, Stringer

Actor Jack Black, right, said he was persuaded to do "Bernie" after...

Tenacious D, also known as Kyle Gass, left, and Jack Black, performed at a 2004 NORML benefit in L.A. Black talked about pot use in High Times magazine. Photo: Casey Rodgers, AP IMAGES FOR BLIZZARD / HC

Tenacious D, also known as Kyle Gass, left, and Jack Black,...

Actor Jack Black looks like his normal crazy self at the premiere of "Bernie" at the 2012 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. (Michael Buckner / Getty Images for SXSW)

20TH CENTURY FOX of a feather: Steve Martin, from left, Jack Black and Owen Wilson are on a quest to spot the most wild birds.

Photo: Murray Close

20TH CENTURY FOX of a feather: Steve Martin, from left, Jack Black...

Jack Black's parents are somewhat famous, but not for acting or music. They were both rocket scientists. His mother worked on the Hubble space telescope.

Photo: Carlos Alvarez, Getty Images

Jack Black's parents are somewhat famous, but not for acting or...

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Jack Black at the BAFTA awards July 9, 2011.

Photo: Getty Images

Jack Black at the BAFTA awards July 9, 2011.

Actor Jack Black arrives at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) inaugural ''Brits to Watch'' dinner at the Belsaco Theater in downtown Los Angeles July 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Valerie Macon, pool)

Photo: VALERIE MACON

Actor Jack Black arrives at the British Academy of Film and...

Actor Jack Black and guest arrive at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) inaugural ''Brits to Watch'' dinner at the Belsaco Theater in downtown Los Angeles July 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Valerie Macon, pool)

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Actor Jack Black and guest arrive at the British Academy of Film...

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 09: Actor Jack Black (L) and Tanya Haden arrive at the BAFTA Brits To Watch event held at the Belasco Theatre on July 9, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

Photo: Kevork Djansezian, Getty Images

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 09: Actor Jack Black (L) and Tanya Haden...

U.S. actor Jack Black poses with a panda character as he attends the Australian premiere of the movie Kung Fu Panda 2 in Sydney, Monday, June 13, 2011.
Photo: Rick Rycroft, AP

U.S. actor Jack Black poses with a panda character as he attends...

Jack Black of Tenacious D Went from the big screen to the recording studioTV/Film: Gulliver's Travels, Year One, Tropic ThunderSongs: Tribute, The Road, Beelzeboss

Photo: Tullio M. Puglia, Getty

Jack Black of Tenacious D
Went from the big screen to the recording...

DOTING DADS As father's day approaches, we take a look at celebrity dads as they step out with their children Sammy Black and Jack Black Jack Black goes to a park in Beverly Hills with his wife and children Los Angeles, California - 17.01.11 Credit: (Mandatory): WENN.com

Photo: Pmb/zoj

DOTING DADS As father's day approaches, we take a look at celebrity...

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 28: Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson (L) and actor Jack Black joke around as they arrive to promote their upcoming film, "Kung Fu Panda 2" at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during the opening night of CinemaCon, the official conventionof the National Association of Theatre Owners, March 28, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Actor Jack Black and son Thomas Black attend Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! There's A Party In My City at Nokia L.A. Live in Los Angeles, California.

Photo: Getty Images

Actor Jack Black and son Thomas Black attend Yo Gabba Gabba! Live!...

Jack Black, right, and Kyle Gass of the band Tenacious D perform at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. Friday, June 11, 2010.

Photo: Jeff Christensen, AP

Jack Black, right, and Kyle Gass of the band Tenacious D perform at...

CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 10: A young woman mounts a scooter next to a sign advertising the new film "Gulliver's Travels" and showing actor Jack Black prior to the annual film festival on May 10, 2010 in Cannes, France. The 63rd Cannes Film Festival will run from May 12 to May 23. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

US president-elect Barack Obama (L) talks with actor Jack Black (R) at the end of the 'We Are One" concert, one of the events of Obama's inauguration celebrations, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on January 18, 2009.

Actor Jack Black speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the "We Are One" concert, one of the events of Obama's inauguration celebrations, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Sunday.

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Actor Jack Black speaks in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the...

Wearing a T-shirt printed with a photograph of a bare chest, Jack Black poses for a portrait during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Saturday Jan. 19, 2008.

Photo: Amy Sancetta, AP

Wearing a T-shirt printed with a photograph of a bare chest, Jack...

Host Jack Black presented and performed during last night's awards at Sony Picture Studios.

Photo: Chris Pizzello, AP

Host Jack Black presented and performed during last night's awards...

Host Jack Black, right, performs with a dancer at the sixth annual Video Game Awards.

Photo: Chris Pizzello, AP

Host Jack Black, right, performs with a dancer at the sixth annual...

Host Jack Black gives a thumbs up during a performance at the awards show.

Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black, left) and Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller, right) are two of the stars of a war movie who get caught up in a real battle in the action comedy ?Tropic Thunder.?
Photo: Merie Weismiller Wallace, DreamWorks

Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black, left) and Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller,...

Then, there are the NO-bliques: those who's lack of definition is their very attraction. Rotund funny-man Jack Black had a hit as Nacho Libre.

Actor Jack Black gives a fan a "high five" during the "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" film premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Wednesday in Hollywood, Calif.

Photo: Getty Images

Actor Jack Black gives a fan a "high five" during the "Walk Hard:...

Jack Black

Photo: Chris Pizzello, AP

Jack Black

Kyle Gass, left, and Jack Black pose for a photo in West Hollywood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 27, 2006. Gass and Black are a rock duo who, with the help of a magical guitar, become "the greatest rock gods of all time" in the film "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny." (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Photo: NICK UT

Kyle Gass, left, and Jack Black pose for a photo in West Hollywood,...

AUSTIN - Even Jack Black was surprised to find himself starring as a true life East Texas murderer in director Richard Linklater's pseudo-documentary, quasi-tragedy, sorta-comedy, "Bernie."

The California-born comedic actor and musician acknowledges he's a long way from any Hollywood stereotype of a rural Texan, killer or otherwise, but Black thinks he pulled it off, at least to the folks who knew the real Bernie Tiede before his arrest for murder shook up the quiet little town of Carthage.

"I felt like I fit in pretty good," Black says when we talk during South by Southwest. "Richard used a lot of people from Carthage (who knew the real Bernie) in the movie. A lot of people asked me if I am from Texas, for some reason."

The notion amuses him. "Maybe I was in a past life."

Dressed in a black, snap-buttoned cowboy shirt and jeans - and bright emerald sneakers - the comedian was at SXSW, along with Linklater and his "Bernie" co-star Matthew McConaughey, for an advance screening. He also was there to perform with Kyle Gass, his partner in the folk-rock duo Tenacious D; their third album, "Rize of the Fenix," is due out May 15.

"At SXSW, I get to double dip, do a little movie, do a little music," Black says. "Next year I'm going to try to have a movie, a record and a video cam because I feel like I'm missing out on the interactive third of this festival."

Black is completely serious about what for him was a rare acting opportunity to do a dramatic role based on a real person. Bernie Tiede was a popular Carthage citizen who murdered his companion, the elderly - and reputedly difficult - rich widow Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine).

"I don't think of Bernie as a comedy. It's got comedic elements, but it's a real drama," Black says. "It's a real story. I'm just thinking about making it as real as possible, and if comedy happens, let it happen. I wasn't looking for opportunities to put jokes in.

"The thing that makes it funny is the unusual nature of the case. It's just so strange that it happened at all, that this guy, Bernie, who is the most beloved guy in the town, was the one to commit the only murder that had happened in Carthage in years. And that he would go on being the most loved guy in town after the murder."

Even played straight, Black's performance is humorously charged. It's hard to believe he did not, on some level, intend it that way. Though he is known more for performance excess, he showed as early as his breakout film, "High Fidelity" (2000), that he has a deft touch when it's called for.

Ironically, he may owe his starring role in "Bernie" to a comedy that did not happen, at least not yet.

"Richard called me about 'School of Rock II.' I really wanted to make it, and we were trying to figure out what it would be. We never quite got it to where everyone was happy.

"In the meantime, Richard said, 'I do have something I'd love you to do, a script I have been working on for years.' I read the script and said, 'Yeah, this is really dark; it's something I've never done before.'â€‰"

"I met him once. We went to the maximum-security prison. It was quite an experience. It's a real serious operation.

"They were not impressed with my Hollywood credentials at all," he says in self-mockery. "It's run like a strict military complex, which it should be. You see some of the prisoners and you're like, 'Holy crap, there are some killers. And it's like, 'We're safe because the guards are right here.' But then you're like, 'This isn't safe!'

"Then you come to Bernie, and he's standing there, and he's such a gentle, sweet, sweet man. He's so soft and doughy. It was incongruous to see him in that environment. It confirmed our feelings about who he was."

Does that mean that, like director Linklater, he'd like to see Tiede released, now that he's served 12 years?

"He definitely deserved time because he murdered Marjorie. â€¦ But not all murders are created equal, and the idea behind the movie is, if the nicest guy in town can commit a murder, then anyone, under the right, or under the perfectly wrong, circumstances, could conceivably be capable of a horrible crime like that.

"My feeling is he is not a danger; he's not a menace to society, or a danger to do this again. He's served hard time. I say let him out. He's done enough time."

As much as he enjoyed doing a drama, Black will probably be back at being funny soon; he's considering which of two independent comedies to do next.

Now 42, Black and his wife of six years, Tanya Haden, have two sons. That may change the way he picks his films, as he finds himself considering how his kids will view his movies someday.

"I think about that. You don't want them to make up some fake identity because they are embarrassed at my cheesy work. 'Who are you talking about? My father was a longshoreman!' I've got to keep it real."